Chad Mendes Argues Team Alpha Male Put Duane Ludwig “on The Map”

Just when you thought all the talk regarding Duane Ludwig and his recent comments about Team Alpha Male had died down, well, it looks like we’re set for another round…

If you missed it, as there has been a ton going on in recent weeks, Ludwig raised eyebrows not long ago by making some pretty bold statements about the team he used to coach. Ludwig claimed that TJ Dillashaw is the only member of the team who wants to be champion, and who is willing to put the work in to stay at the top. Not surprisingly, the comments didn’t go over too well with TAM, and since then, Ludwig has said he feels bad about the comments.

Well, more recently, Ludwig’s statements about how Dillashaw will storm through Dominick Cruz has been grabbing people’s attention. But, in the latest “MMA Hour”, TAM’s Chad Mendes was asked to weigh-in on Ludwig’s earlier comments (comments via MMA Fighting.com):

“I don’t know what the hell Duane is talking about,” Mendes said. “I’m tired of hearing about Duane and him ruling our team. Duane came here to Team Alpha Male for a short amount of time, and Duane did what he did, but I’d say 95-percent of our wins when he was here we would’ve won anyway.

“Duane was the type of guy who brought a new style to our team, but we have such a unique team, everybody is such high-level athletes that anybody can come to this team with a new style, and we’re going to pick it up, we’re going to learn it and we’re going to use it in fights. So we made Duane. We put Duane on the map. Before that, Duane was a fighter who fought in the UFC who most people didn’t even know about.”

Ya. Clearly this isn’t all water under the bridge just yet. Mendes did go on to say that he liked Ludwig “a lot’, and that he’s bothered by how things have played out. The featherweight contender also said that he doesn’t expect any issues arising, due to the fact that TAM’s Dillashaw and Danny Castillo continue to train with Ludwig.

All this aside, it remains to be seen who Mendes is going to fight next, following his stoppage loss to Conor McGregor last month. Mendes is currently ranked #3 in the UFC’s featherweight division. The 30 year-old is 3-2 in his last 5 contests.